The completion of the NHL season last Friday
apparently doesn't mean we get a reprieve from having to endure more botch jobs
from the league. The 2009 NHL Awards Show proved to be another league disaster,
which makes you wonder how hard it is to hand out a few trophies.

Relocating to Las Vegas proved no improvement from past shows. Like those
before it, this year's edition dragged on far too long, and had the drama of a
5-goal lead. Marching people like Sergei Federov and movie producer Jerry
Bruckheimer up on stage, only to have them try and read from a teleprompter
made the whole presentation sophomoric.

The scripted show had the
allure of wet paste and the on stage band seemed like they were a Vegas act
held over from the 50's. More proof that the league just doesn't get it. Rather
than putting together a show that compels to viewers, the production seemed to
be tailored to the stogie brass that makes up the league's group of owners.

McLellan Get His Due

As for the awards themselves, the
lone Sharks nominee, head coach Todd McLellan, came up short, losing the Jack
Adams award to Bruins head coach Claude Julien. The voting members of the NHL
Broadcasters' Association got this one wrong, but McLellan isn't the guy that
should have edged out Julien.

Andy Murray, the St Louis Blues head
coach took a roster far less talented than either the Bruins or Sharks and
navigated them to a 41 win season and a 6th seed in the Western Conference.
Sorry Claude, but Murray deserved this one.

I would be remiss if I
didn't callout the fact that McLellan's nomination was certainly worthy. The
guy had no NHL head coaching experience, but came in and established a program
that helped the Sharks win their first President's Trophyin franchise history.
Not too bad for a rookie coach.

Boyle Makes 2nd Team

The
league did recognize one Shark. That being defenseman Dan Boyle, who earned 2nd
Team All Star Team honors. Don't ask me why they call this award the All-Star
Team, rather than the All-League Team. Fans vote league All-Stars for the
February All-Star Game. Maybe Jerry Bruckheimer had something to do with it.

The Sharks made news this week with the courting of Swedish goaltending phenom
Jonas Gustavsson, who reportedly toured the Sharks' facilities and met with
Sharks management to get a feel for the team and their direction. If I was a
betting man, I'd put my money on the Dallas Stars to win Gustovsson's favor for
one and only one reason. Dallas has no state income tax.

There's no
bidding war here, because Gustavsson can earn no more than the league rookie
cap of $900,000. Not that the Sharks are big on dolling out top dollar for
unproven prospects to begin with, but should the Swede choose to play in
California, he'll be lighter in the pocket for it because of the state's hefty
state income tax.

If Gustavsson leans towards playing for the Sharks,
it will be because San Jose might afford him a better chance to play sooner.
Evgeni Nabokov is only 19 days older than Marty Turco, so the age factor is the
same, but the Stars have 25-year old Tobias Stephan waiting in the wings. Brian
Boucher is a nice back up option for San Jose, but he's not a legitimate option
to carry the team an entire season and Thomas Greiss hasn't shown much
consistency in his AHL opportunity.

More to come.

Heatley
a Shark?

I'd be more than surprised if Dany Heatley found his way
to San Jose via some sort of trade this summer. With the NHL Draft only two
weeks away, the trade market is sure to heat up, but in order for the Sharks to
land Heatley, they would have to free up some serious cap space.

Patrick Marleau's $6.3 million salary next season and Milan Michalek's
$3.5 million travesty of a deal would have to be shipped to Ottawa to free up
the space required to support Heatley's $8 million dollar contract. Heatley is
also due $35 million of the next 5 seasons.

Not sure the Sharks are
willing to lock up that much money on another centerman who has yet to prove he
can win. They have a surplus of those players already.

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